Hosting Jack and Quinn Hughes and Kaapo Kakko might have been a junior hockey high at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre, but it played havoc with the local team鈥檚 schedule. A sense of normalcy has returned to the Victoria Royals鈥� Western Hockey League campaign for 2019-20.
鈥淲e had some unusual trips, and more nights on the road, because of hosting the world junior championship and it changed fundamentally our season,鈥� said Royals GM Cam Hope.
鈥淲e have fewer nights on the road this season [although the number of road games doesn鈥檛 change at 34].鈥�
The Royals open on the road in Everett, Washington, against the Silvertips on Sept. 21 with the home opener Sept. 27 against the Prince George Cougars at the Memorial Centre.
The WHL released its regular season schedule Wednesday. There will be 748 games, from Sept. 20 to March 22, with the playoffs beginning March 27. Each team again plays 68 regular-season games.
Most of the games will be played on weekends. A total of 614 games will be played on weekends, holidays or over the Christmas break, which is 82 per cent of the games during the 2019-20 regular season. That is up from 81.1 per cent last season.
鈥淲HL fans want to come down to the rink a lot more on Friday and Saturday nights,鈥� said Hope.
Sunday matin茅es and early evenings are also a factor.
The Royals will play 11 home games on Fridays, 12 on Saturdays, six on Wednesdays, four on Tuesdays and none on Mondays or Thursdays.
The longest home stand on Blanshard is five games from Oct. 25 to Nov. 2. Victoria鈥檚 longest road trip is six games from Jan. 24 to Feb. 1 against the six teams from the Eastern Conference East Division, which includes Brandon, Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Prince Albert, Regina and Moose Jaw. It is a trek the Royals must embark on every other year. This is also the season all six Eastern Conference Central Division teams will visit the Memorial Centre 鈥� Calgary, Edmonton, Red Deer, Swift Current, Medicine Hat and Lethbridge.
There are the usual two home and two away games against Western Conference U.S. Division teams.
The Royals will play 18 home and 18 away games against fellow sa国际传媒 Division rivals, but in unbalanced fashion. There are the annual 10 games against the cross-strait rival Vancouver Giants, which are going to be 20 tough points against the resurgent and defending Western Conference-champions.
The nine games against the Kelowna Rockets, which missed the playoffs last season despite a team that this month produced two first-round NHL draft picks, will also be interesting in light of Kelowna readying to host the 2020 Memorial Cup.
Five of those Victoria games against the Rockets will be in Kelowna whereas five of the nine Royals games against Prince George will be in Victoria. There will be eight games against Kamloops.
鈥淭he sa国际传媒 Division is going to be exceptional this season, maybe the best in the WHL, and we are in for a battle every night in those divisional games,鈥� said Hope.
IMPORT DRAFT: The 60 teams in the Canadian Hockey League will conduct the annual import draft today with the WHL, OHL and QMJHL selecting in inverse order of last season鈥檚 regular-season placings. Each CHL team can carry two import players.
The Royals will select 28th overall. With forward Igor Martynov signing with a pro team in his native Belarus, Danish forward Phillip Schultz is the lone import on the Victoria roster.
鈥淲e feel we have lots of young defencemen, so we鈥檙e looking for a forward in the import draft,鈥� said Hope.
